Top 10 Cool Tutorials To Improve Your Hand Lettering

In this day and age hand lettering is an incredible skill to have, with digital fonts and typography taking over, it’s wonderful that lettering by hand is still an art form. With many of us losing our neat handwriting to keyboards, it’s also a coveted ability that sometimes seems inaccessible to those who aren’t trained in art and design. However, getting started with hand lettering is much easier than it seems with tracing paper and practice grids being readily available. Practice makes perfect to improve hand lettering and you’ll find that even calligraphy is easier to master than you thought.

There are a wide range of tutorials available to help improve your hand lettering and you can learn skills such as brush pressure techniques, how to grasp copying new fonts and how to perfect your embellishments. If you’re looking to get better at hand drawn typography, then take a look below at these cool tutorials to improve your hand lettering.

Hand lettering: Scripts, Swirls and Flourishes

Learn the basics of formal and informal script lettering with this cool tutorial that uses moving GIF graphics to help you see exactly how words should be formed. The tutorial also shows you how to add embellishments and flourishes to your hand lettering so that it looks unique and stands out from the rest.

Lettering Basics- Brush Pens and Pressure

This great tutorial teaches you the techniques to create professional looking hand lettering with brush pens. You’ll learn about brush pressure and the different effects you can get by altering pressures, plus when to use hard pressure and when to use light pressure.

Roundhand Script Calligraphy

This calligraphy tutorial will help you improve your hand lettered calligraphy by teaching you how to master roundhand script. This is a traditional looking script that’s made up of basic strokes and once you see these broken down you’ll find it easy to copy and perfect them.

Calligraphy Alphabet Tutorial

This tutorial includes a handy printable alphabet on a practice grid that you can use to learn and improve your calligraphy hand lettering. This is a great introduction to calligraphy and once you’ve mastered the alphabet you’ll be able to move onto words and phrases.

DIY Hand Lettering

You’ll be able to follow this great tutorial even if you think your hand lettering isn’t up to scratch as you’ll learn some great tips for drafting and perfecting your words. At the end you’ll have a wonderful hand lettered greetings card. Follow the tutorial here

Create Hand Lettering Artwork On Paper

This tutorial will teach you new techniques that you’ll be able to use to improve your hand lettering but also any sketching or work you may do on Illustrator too. You’ll learn how to replicate a modern square font with shading that can be used for a wide variety of applications.

Digital Brush Lettering in Illustrator

If you’d like to practice your lettering in Illustrator rather than on paper then this great hand lettering tutorial will teach you how. You’ll use scribble brushes to create letters which you can then overlay onto photos or add into your artwork. This is a great way to create digital hand lettering without needing to use a scanner.

Create a Hand Lettered Logotype

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to design and create a logotype from start to finish. You’ll see how to use your iPad as a lightbox and then take your design into Illustrator and Photoshop to finish off the lettering and change any elements as needed.

Lettering With Watercolours

This tutorial will take you through a simple process of hand lettering with watercolours in order to make simple typographic art or a greeting card. Anyone can follow this easy method and you’ll learn tips for working with paint and a brush.

Hand Lettered Envelopes

A great tutorial that’s easy to follow, you’ll see how to create fun hand lettered envelopes that will enable you to improve your hand lettering as you practice. You’ll also learn some beginner’s tips to make your handwriting look more purposeful and professional.